TikTok's plan to close café to public 'undesirable and will not be encouraged' warns Council

Gordon Deegan

Dublin City Council has told TikTok that its plans to close off a planned café to the public at its Dublin HQ “is likely to create a precedent for similar type undesirable development”.

Documents on TikTok Technology Ltd's planning application also reveal that the Council told the social media giant in a pre-planning meeting that its application to close off the café to the public at TikTok's Tropical Fruit Warehouse (TFH) on Sir John Rogerson's Quay due to security considerations “will not be encouraged”.

The City Council note of the pre-planning meeting stated that the key issue identified by the Council is that “the loss of a public accessible café/restaurant is regrettable and not considered a planning gain”.

The note states that “a key positive in the original proposal was the possibility the café/restaurant would have on the animation and vibrancy of this quay side space”.

The note adds that “the closing off of this space is likely to create a precedent for similar type undesirable development and will not be encouraged”.

The Council stated that TikTok mentioned allowing some events to take place at the location “however this would be occasional and would not sufficiently replace the vibrancy or amenity a working café would bring to this context”.

Billionaire's letter

In a letter to Dublin City Council as part of the application, the billionaire co-founder of social media giant, ByteDance which owns TikTok, Rubo Liang stated that TikTok is not in a position to facilitate open public access to the planned ground floor café and requests planning permission to allow the use of the café “for employees and designated visitors to our building only”.

In his letter, Mr Liang said that TikTok is not in a position to make the café public arising from security considerations due to the sensitive nature of some of the work that will take place within the TFW building, coupled with the desire to provide openness and interaction.

Director at planning consultants, Tom Phillips + Associates, John Gannon told the Council that “security and data protection are of utmost importance to the company and with this in mind, TikTok is not in a position to facilitate open public access to the planned ground floor café/restaurant”.

TikTok Technology Ltd is seeking a change of use from the permitted café/restaurant to office floorspace.

No objections have been lodged against the proposal and the Council is due to make a decision on the application next week.